Replacing the Dead: The Politics of Reproduction in the Postwar Soviet Union [Hardcover]

In 1955, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to re-legalize abortion on the principle of women's rights to abortion. How could this happen in Stalinist society which prohibited feminist movements?Replacing the Deadfinds an answer in previously secret archives that document the difficult decade after World War II, which killed 27 million Soviet citizens and the government's policy to increase fertility by promoting out-of-wedlock births. The result was an abortion battle between women, government, and Soviet legal and medical professionals that has continued for decades.Drawing on never before used archival materials,Replacing the Deadexposes the history of Soviet and Russian abortion policy.It is not unusual for nations recovering from wars to incentivize their populations to raise their birthrates. The post-World War II Soviet pronatalism campaign attempted this on an unprecedented scale, aiming to replace a lost population of 27 million. Why, then, did the USSR re-legalize abortion in 1955?Mie Nakachi uses previously hidden archival data to reveal that decisions made by Stalin and Khruschev under the rubric of 'family law' created a society of broken marriages, fatherless children, and abortions, each totaling in the tens of millions. The government reversed laws regarding paternal responsibility, thereby encouraging men to impregnate unmarried women and widows, and blocked available contraception, overriding the advice of the medical establishment. Some 8.7 million out-of-wedlock children were born between 1945 and 1955 alone. In the absence of serious commitment to supporting Soviet women who worked full-time, the policy did extensive damage to gender relations and the welfare of women and children. Women, famous cultural figures, and Soviet professionals initiated a movement to improve women's reproductive health and make all children equal. Because Soviet leaders did not allow any major reform, an abortion culture grew amls,